Valet rack post



ilnited States Patent [72] lnventor Carl E. Gingher 304-328 Depot St., Scranton, Pa. 18509 l2l] Appl.No. 680,554 [22] Filed Nov.3, 1967 [45] Patented Dec-15,1970

[54] VALETRACK POST 6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl. 287/103, 285/397 [51] lnt.Cl ..E2ldl5/06 [50] FieldolSearch 287/58, 58CT, 54C, 543, 54A, 104; 24/(lnquired); 287/103; 285/397, 302

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 658,493 9/1900 Trigwell.... 285/397X 1,550,701 8/1925 Hoyt 287/58CTUX 287/103 2,604,342 7/1952 Holmes 2,850,304 /1958 Wagner 285/397 3,089,716 5/1963 Berkowitz. 287/548 3,102,742 9/1963 Shureliff 287/58CT 133,170 11/1872 Nutting et a1. 287/105 F ORElGN PATENTS 18,610 0/1892 Great Britain 287/58CT 802,382 6/1936 France 287/54B Primary Examiner-David J. Williamowsky Assistant E.taminerWayne L. Shedd Attorney Edmund M. Jaskiewicz PATENTED [ED151978 3541475 sum 1 OF 2 FIG. 2

U ATTORNEY PATENTEU 0521 5197s SHEET 2 BF 2 3 5 4 75 Fla. 5

Emmmmmuw INVENTOR CARL E. GINGHER ATTORNEY 1 VALET RACK Pos'r with the base, post and shelf sections being packaged separately. The upright post is generally formed of a hollow tubular-member and may have alengthof +6 feet. While the base and shelf sections form relatively small and compact packages for shipment and storage, the post is rather awkward and presents difficulties because of its-length. As a result, numerous attempts have been made to devise a'post which could be disassembled into two or more pieces with the pieces being shipped in a package and then assembled'at the site to form a rigid unitary post structure. The various forms of connections proposcd'for joining the post pieces have been unsatisfactory since the connections areeither too complicatedor do not firmly join the individual pieces. The resulting assembled post is thus considerably weakened than if the post were made in a single piece and is not rigid so that the assembled rack is susceptible to considerable amounts of movement during use. The further disadvantage of such connections'is that a significant amount of the connecting structure protrudes exteriorly of the assembled post. This not only detracts from the appearance of the post when used in clothes racks, furniture and the like, but may present a source of injury to persons or damage to clothing. I

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved connectionfor two tubular members.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a socket connection for tubular members wherein the inner member is urged into engagement with the socket by a structure accessible exteriorly of the connection. I

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a two piece tubular post which can be easily and quickly connected to form a single rigid tubular member It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an effective and rigid connection between-twosimilar tubular members with the exterior surfaces adjacent the connection being flush and free from protuberances.

The tubular connection according ,to the present invention is particularly adapted for two piece posts or other forms of structural members such as may be found in racks of various kinds, shelving, articles of furniture, structural members and other applications. The tubular connection disclosed herein attains all of the above-mentioned objects and, in addition, avoids the disadvantages of the prior art,"some of which have been mentioned above. Y I

The present invention may comprise a vertical upright tubular post which is in two pieces. The post has a square cross secnection being a thin line where the outer tubular member meets the shoulder at the end of the reduced cross section. The head-of the bolt may extend above the surface of the outer tubular member but in the case'of a rack may be positioned against a wall so that the bolt is invisible' to people using the rack.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent upon reference to the accompanying description when taken in conjunction with the following drawings wherein; a

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of the tubular members a which form the joint and shown in the disassembled position;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section view of the assembled tubular members shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing the relationship of the tubular members before the bolt is tightened;

FIG, 4 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 and showing the expansion of the inner tubular member upon tightening of the bolt;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 but showing schematically the forces exerted when the bolt is tightened; and

' FIG. 6 is an overall perspective view of a hat and coat rack incorporating the tubular connection of the present invention in the vertical post.

Proceeding next to the drawings whereinlike reference symbols indicate the same parts throughout the various views a specific embodiment and modifications of the present invention will be described in detail.

In FIG. I there are illustrated tubular members 10 and II which are interconnected to forma single tubular member. The tubular members are relatively thin walled, rolled steel tubes having a square cross section. The connection according :to the present invention can be used with other shaped cross sections including various forms of polygons and with circular tubing.

The tubular member 10 has one end thereof reduced in cross section by means of a mandril and die and this reduced cross section portion is indicated at 12. A shoulder 13 is formed at the end of the reduced section portion and has a height which is substantially equal to the thickness of the wall of the tubular members. The reduced cross section portion 12 has four faces 14 with each face being provided with a longitudinally extending groove or flute 15. The groove 15 extends from the end ofthe reduced cross section portion to the shoulder 13 where, as may be seen in FIG.- 1 the bottom of the groove extends below the shoulder. The formation of the groove 15 thus forms two surfaces 16 and 17 in each face. These faces 16 and 17 are inclined downwardly toward the groove as shown in FIG. 3. In addition,.the entire reduced cross section portion 12 has a slight taper-therein from the shoulder 13 to its extreme end with. the taper being on the order of several thousands of an inch. 7,

One of the grooves 15 is provided with a'tapped hole 18 threaded toreceive a bolt 19 in a manner to be presently tion with a wall of a substantially uniform thickness. One

member of the two piece post hasa reduced cross section at one end with there being a plurality of'longitudinally extend: ing grooves in the faces thereof. At the end'of the grooved portion there is an annular shoulder having aheight substantially equal to the thickness of the wall of the tubular post. The grooved portion is slip-fitted into the second tubular piece and may be snugly received therein. A bolt is then passed through an opening in the outer tubular member and threaded into a tapped opening in one of the'grooves. Asthe bolt is threaded into the tubular connection, the end of the bolt will engagethe opposed groove. Continued threadingof the bolt will expand the tapped groove and opposed groove in opposite directions into frictional engagement with the corresponding'inner surfaces of the outer tubular member. At the same time, the other two grooved faces will also be urgedoutwardly into engagement with the'outer tubular member-The .result is a rigid immovable firm connection with the only "evidence of the condescribed.

The taper on the reduced cross section portion enables this grooved portion of tubular member 10 to be slip-fitted into the tubularmember l'l into the position as shown in FIG. 2. The

end 20 of tubular member 11 will abut against the shoulder 13 of tubular member 10in the manner as shown in FIG. 2 so that the only evidence of the joint or connection is a thin line 21 as 7 opening 18, the connected tubularmembers are locked against relative axialand rotative movement. In order to lock further the tubular members so as to provide a rigid immova- 15 and inclined surfaces 16 and 17 of the reduced cross section portion will have the appearance such as illustrated in FIG. 3. It will be seen that the corners 23 of the reduced cross section portion will be slightly spaced from the corresponding corners of tubular member 11 and the surfaces 16 and 17 will be inclined slightly away from the inner surface of tubular member 11. Thus, when the end 24 of the bolt 19 first contacts the rib 25 formed by the groove '15 opposed from tapped hole 18, the surfaces of the reduced cross section portion will have the appearance as illustrated. The length of the bolt 19 is so selected that when the bolt is threaded its entire distance into the position as shown in FIG. 4, the inclined surfaces 16 and 17 will have been drawn into frictional engagement with the interior surfaces of the outer tubular member 1 1. As the bolt 19 is threaded downwardly, the corners of the reduced cross section portion will move outwardly in the directions as indicated by the schematic diagram in FIG. and by the arrows 26 therein. At the same time, the outward movement of the corners in the direction shown by the arrows 26 will cause the inclined surfaces 16 and 17 to move radially outwardly in the direction shown by the arrows 27. It will be apparent that as the bolt 19 is threaded, its end will urge groove outwardly and at the same time the forces exerted by the screw threads against tapped hole 18 will also urge groove 15 outwardly and in the opposite direction from opposed groove 15. Thus the ultimate relative positions of the tubular members will be as illustrated in FIG. 4 when the bolt has been threaded downwardly as far as it will go. The result will be a closely fitted locked tubular connection.

It will be apparent that when the reduced cross section portion 12 is formed with a die and mandril, the excess metal resulting from the reduced cross section is taken up by the iongitudinal flutes or grooves 15. While the reduced cross section portion and the grooves may be formed in any other suitable process, it is pointed out that the use of a die and mandril has produced particularly satisfactory results.

The connected tubular members 10 and 11 might be used, for example, for forming the vertical post 28 employed in the coat and hat rack indicated generally at 29 and shown in FIG. 6.,This rack comprises a base 30 with the post 28 upstanding therefrom and supporting a shelfsection 31 on its upper end.

While the specific embodiment of the present invention has been described as utilizing a square tubular member, it is apparent that other polygonal tubular members may be so connected. In addition, the concept of the present invention may be employed with a tubular member having a substantially circular or elliptical cross section. It will be apparent from the schematic force diagram of FIG. 5 that the use of square tubular members is particularly satisfactory because of the forces exerted by the tightening of the fastening screw or bolt 19.

Because of the relationship between the reduced cross section portion 12, and the remaining portion of tubular member 10, it will be seen that the connection of the tubular members 10 and 11 will form a smooth exterior surface in the vicinity of the joint or seam 21. The fastening screw 19 may be provided with a round head and be relatively fiat so as to present only a very slight projection above the exterior surface of the connected tubular members.

Thus it can be seen that the present invention provides a simple yet effective socket connection for tubular members wherein the inner tubular member is expanded into engagement with the socket tubular member by means of a fastening screw threaded into the connection from the exterior thereof. The action of the fastening screw upon the grooves formed in the inner tubular member will expand the grooved portion into intimate engagement with the socket tubular member to provide a rigid and slipfree fit. The .tubular members according to the present invention are readily assembled into a rigid post merely by inserting the grooved portion into the socket portion and tightening the fastening screw. While the present invention is particularly adapted for use in a two piece post for racks and the like the connection is susceptible of numerous other applications where it is desired to interconnect two tubular members. I

It will be understood that the present Invention IS susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modification within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a tubular connection, first and second tubular members having similar square cross sections, said first tubular member having an end portion of reduced cross section, there being a longitudinally extending groove in each face of the reduced cross section end portion, said second tubular member having an internal cross section at one end thereof conforming to the peripheral outline of said grooved end portion so that the grooved end can be telescopingly received within the second tubular member one end, and means operable exteriorly of said second tubular member for interconnecting said tubular members in telescopic relationship and for expanding the corners of the grooved end portion outwardly into engagement with the inner surfaces of the corresponding corners of said second tubular member so that the tubular members are connected firmly together.

2. In a tubular connection as claimed in claim 1 wherein each grooved face is inclined inwardly toward the groove therein.

3. In a tubular connection as claimed in claim 1 wherein an annular shoulder is in said first tubular member at the end of said reduced cross section portion, the height of said shoulder being substantially equal to the thickness of the wall of the second tubular member so that the exterior surfaces of the tubular members will be flush when the tubular members are connected in telescoping relationship.

4. In a tubular connection as claimed in claim 1 wherein said expanding means act outwardly against the inner surfaces of opposed grooves.

5. In a tubular connection as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means comprises a bolt passing through said second tubular member and a groove in said first tubular member, the end of said bolt engaging the groove opposed from said first mentioned groove.

6. In a tubular connection as claimed in claim 5 with said bolt being threaded in said first mentioned groove so that screwing the bolt inwardly will urge said first mentioned groove and said opposed groove outwardly against said second tubular member. 

